Flung back in time by a freak accident, three men fight through the Bloody Valentine War alongside their commander. Cast logic aside & kick reason to the curb: Section Nine's craziest team is going to war. An AU remake of Solid Shark's Birds of a Feather.

Disclaimer: Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai. Kenneth DiFalco, Sophia DiFalco and the Gray Demons are the creation of Solid Shark, used with permission. The TRVF-X51A Fianna's original form is the creation of Shoji Kawamori. The charecter of Saito is the original creation of Masamune Shirow and Production I.G. About the only thing I own is this idea, the Seburo M-11 pistol, and Jack David. This is a nonprofit fanfiction, written merely to entertain.

Ten years ago, there
was a war that engulfed the world.

War has always been
a part of the endless waltz that is human history. The blue planet
that humanity calls its home has seen countless battles raging all
over its surface. But this war was different. This was a war started
in self-defense… that quickly became something a lot worse. This
was a war where racism and bigotry reared their ugly heads, where the
strong oppressed the weak. A war that was started in space, waged
across the world, and finally ended in space.

This was the war
where the genie of GENESIS was unleashed: Gamma Emission by
Nuclear Explosion Stimulate Inducing System. A giant gamma radiation
weapon first intended to propel exploration ships, later to defend
the PLANTs from another Bloody Valentine, but instead twisted to
fulfill a madman's dreams of genocide.

The war was halted
by a man both revered and reviled by both sides: the youngest
recipient of the Order of Nebula, Patrick Zala's right hand man,
ZAFT's top strategist… and the founder and leader of True ZAFT.
His "Shiva Option" brought the war to a close, forcing both sides
into a stalemate from which the only exit was negotiation, succeeding
in his plan…and paying a terrible price to see it through.

He was the pilot
they called the Grimaldi Falcon: Commander Kenneth DiFalco,
commanding officer of the Gray Demons, ZAFT's Ace of Aces.

To us in Orb, the
war was something that didn't worry us. We stayed out of the war,
believing that we could remain neutral and unaffected by the war,
that business would go on as usual. We hung on to that belief,
clutching it with both hands, blinding our eyes with it, refusing to
look at anything that might hint that our preconceptions were wrong.

We were fools. And
when the war came to our doorstep, it was then that we paid for our
folly.

Heliopolis was just
the beginning.

March to the
Future

An AU retelling
of Solid Shark's Birds of a Feather

Chapter 1: Guys, we
aren't in Orb anymore…Orb Union, Underground Morgenröte Reseach Facility, January
25th, C.E. 80."Alright gentlemen,
good morning, good morning! Step this way please! Have you signed
your waivers? Good, good, place your mobile suits there, yes, yes,
that's it. Now gentlemen, step this way as I brief you on the
experiment we are about to undertake today-"

"I can't believe
I'm saying this, but I'd rather be doing our paperwork than
hanging around for this mad scientist experiment."

"Orders are orders,
Jack," said the leader, a tall black man with close-cropped dark
hair and a quiet demeanor, wearing the uniform of an Orb Navy
Lieutenant Commander. "Look at it this way: we're giving our
Fiannas one last ride before they head to the boneyard."

"It's at times like
this that I sometimes wish they weren't powered with nuclear
reactors, Marcus," said Jack. Like many Orb nationals, he was of
Asian descent, with short black hair that was liberally streaked with
white, and he wore an identical uniform to his leader. "Then we
could have kept them around and flown them here and there on
joyrides. It would make a great conversation piece. 'And here's
the variable fighter that I flew during the Second Bloody Valentine
War…'"

"You wouldn't be
able to maintain it as a private citizen," murmured the last
member. He was tallish, obviously Japanese, his left eye covered with
a polymer eyepatch, his black hair in a military crewcut, rank
insignia denoting him as a Lieutenant. "Replacement batteries alone
would bankrupt you. As for the reactors, I'd prefer to fly a mobile
suit that's equipped with a reactor. I've gotten very attached to
using a beam smartrifle and VPS in the past six years."

"A man can dream,
Saito. He can dream. It's our dreams which keep us going through
this dreary world."

"Yes, but you're
stepping over the line into delusional territory. Dreams and
delusions are two different things."

"Gentlemen, come,
come, this way! Please attend your briefing!"

"How did we get
sucked into this again?" asked Snow rhetorically.

"The Astray girls are
on holiday, Shiho's gone to spend time with Yzak who's making a
visit from the PLANTs, Morgan, Alicia, and Nicol are at Orbital, and
Rick's attending … something. Sophia has disappeared somewhere,
last seen in company of Mu. None of the other pilots are senior
enough for this. And the Major is spending time with his family, and
gave orders not to be disturbed unless there was a war going on. That
left us," said Jack, sighing. "Come on. Let's get it over and
done with. I wanna hit a strip joint and get smashed."

"Y'know, Snow, whenever he starts acting responsibly, I feel
great hope for him and the world. Then when he destroys that hope, it
makes me glad to know I have a sniper rifle with me."

Snow's reply was to chuckle at the antics of his friends and
comrades. After eight years spent working together, seeing combat
side by side, and countless poker games, one tends to develop the
ability to tolerate one's friends' idiosyncrasies…

Well, it's either that or end up killing them.

When it was first
deployed in February C.E. 74, the TRVF-X51A Fianna was one of the
best mobile suits ever fielded. Given the designation of Tactical
Response Variable Fighter, it was a transformable mobile suit, highly
agile in mobile armor mode, equipped with a nuclear reactor, N-jammer
canceler and Variable Phase Shift armor. It was on the cutting edge,
superior to anything that wasn't a Gundam, capable of standing up
to Gundam-class mobile suits: Morgan Chevalier had used his Fianna to
fight the three Zeta Project units to a standstill. It had been
upgraded and tweaked over the years (the costs of constructing 24
Fiannas and the Eldridge had killed Section Nine's budget
for C.E. 73-74, which did force the issue, though it was also
an exemplary mobile suit), but now, in C.E. 80, it was six years old
and hopelessly out of date. It had been decided that for these three
Fiannas, they would be used for an experiment conducted at an
underground Morgenröte facility, where Orb scientists were
experimenting with a new method of transferring matter through space.
Small-scale mockups had already been tested. Now, they would try it
with live people and active mobile suits.

Chief Representative
Cagalli Yula Athha might be in power, her position stronger than it
had been in C.E. 74, and Unato Ema Seiran was long dead (and the
Seiran family under effective control of Lord Michael Ove Seiran,
formerly Captain Michael Ove Seiran, former CO battleshipTsukiyomi, Orb Navy officer and Athha loyalist), but she could
see the implications of this experiment. In her youth, she'd been a
guerilla with the Desert Dawn guerilla group, and later a mobile suit
pilot for True ZAFT, and had later flown in combat during the Second
Bloody Valentine War. She was well aware of the tactical advantages
granted by a device which could transport mobile suits anywhere
instantaneously. So was Section Nine, who'd chosen 3 operatives to
look into the matter… which was why operatives Marcus Snow, Jack
David, and Saito had brought the last of Section Nine's Fiannas
along for the ride. (Because, in the final analysis, the possible
loss of three Fiannas was preferable to losing three of the new X21S
variable fighters that Section Nine was now fielding, sentimental
value regardless.)

So it was that the
three pilots, prepped and ready, having changed out of their Orb Navy
uniforms into slate-gray flightsuits, sat in the cockpits of their
variable fighters, loaded for bear, and waited for the experiment to
commence.

Then the world went
white, and it would never be the same again.

Heliopolis, Colony Interior, January 25th, C.E. 71To Snow, it was a flash
of white and a blur of colors; he felt blue flitting through his
flightsuit, yellow on his lips, and a tugging sensation in his gut
and then it was over and he blacked out.

Jack fared a bit
better, managing to stay conscious throughout the twisting sensation
and the feeling of being pulled apart into many pieces, and he
groaned as he looked around at the underground- wait. His Fianna was
drifting in air. That wasn't supposed to be part of the plan, it
was resting on the ground when that white light swallowed it. It was
so hard to think, what with the awful hangover he was feeling,
as he groggily looked around.

What the-

And it wasn't inside
the research facility. In fact, it looked a lot like
Heliopolis.

Which was destroyed
in the First War… Sweet Tester! This is impossible!

Above him, beams from
the Raptor Gundam's Death Blossoms lanced into the cockpits of two
GINNs, leaving Matthew and Olor dead; both GINNs drifting limply
towards Snow's motionless Fianna. Looking around, he spotted the
signs of battle below: The Strike engaging a GINN and the Aegis in
the area, the Archangel below…

Wait. Those GINNs…
there was something weird about them… why were GINNs carrying
missiles?

The pilot raised his
visor and closed his eyes wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Something bugged him, but what was it? Something familiar…GINNs,
missiles, Heliopolis… "SHIT!" he snarled, wincing,
feeding power to his turbines…

Right on schedule, as
if they were mocking him, the limited computers in the bunker buster
missiles activated, the missiles firing right at the central shaft.

Tester, I understand
I've been far from you, and that I need to return to the arms of
Father Church, and that you will put a Test for each of us in life
that we have to go through. But Tester, if you don't mind me saying
so, this is bloody ridiculous. Especially if you've disabled my
micromissiles.

Wincing and eyes
squinted, and feeling really, really sick, Jack swung his
Fianna around and pointed it towards the missiles, feeding power to
the turbines. The Fianna shot forward, like the fighter it was, and
Jack glanced at his weapons readout, cursing. The four 18-cell
micromissile pods he carried were inoperable, so he was left with
just his beam gunpod. His finger tightened on the trigger, gunpod
spitting green darts… and they all missed.

What the hell
happened to my targeting system? I had a good angle, so why the hell did I
miss?

"Jack, break right,"
said a cool voice, and Jack broke right as a thick green beam came
into being, the blast from a beam smartrifle.

The Caladbolg beam
smartrifle was one of the hidden tricks up Section Nine's
metaphorical sleeve. Saito had used this weapon for years, and was
intimately familiar with it. It was the ultimate mobile suit sniping
weapon, highly accurate with a high rate of fire, powered directly by
the Fianna's nuclear reactor. Using this weapon, Saito had
single-handedly intercepted two thirds of the Operation Meteor drop
force, as well as countless Kinetic Interdiction Strikes. Saito
almost never missed with his beam smartrifle. Jack would have
bet all his money on Saito; he'd learned the hard way just how good
the former mercenary was.

It was thus an
understandable shock to see all of Saito's shots miss, as the
bunker busters slammed into the colony shaft and detonated.

Whatever threw us
back into the past must have corrupted our targeting systems, he
realized with mounting dread. We'll have to rewrite the OS,
rezero the weapons manually…

"The colony is
starting to come apart!" Sophia DiFalco called to Murrue Ramius. "Those
last hits busted something that really shouldn't have been
busted!"

"Recall our
mobile suits!" Murrue ordered. "Hurry! CIC, get an ID on
those new units!"

Cracks were
beginning to appear in the colony's outer wall, while the central
shaft collapsed. "Raptor has already latched onto the ship,"
Natarle Bagiruel reported. "There's no time to bring him into the hanger,
but he can ride it out from there."

"It's working, but
the targeting system's been corrupted. I won't hit anything
unless I aim manually. Micromissiles are also out. You?"

"Same here. Alright, what do we do? We've been thrown back into
the First War, and I can see Archangel and Raptor and Strike…
whaddya think, Saito?"

"I think we need to
join forces with the Archangel. Leaving aside the fact that
our reactors are good for another four years, we don't have that
much food and water, just enough for 2 days." His voice became even
more serious, and he added, "And Snow may need medical attention."

He sagged.Good... Maybe now I won't have to fight anymore... and even if I
do, at least I'll have some backup besides Lieutenant La Flaga...

The Strike's
instruments suddenly began to beep, and Kira frowned. Tapping
controls, he enhanced the section on his display from which the
signal was coming. "A lifeboat? It must be from Heliopolis..."

Changing course,
he charged after it. Mom, Dad... he thought as he went. You're
safe, right?

"This is Black
Card Team 01. We're with Orb NID, investigating foreign military
activity in Heliopolis. One of our mobile armors is down, and we'd
like to request permission to come aboard. Oh, and we know the
Grimaldi Falcon. We'd be much obliged if you'd pass that on to
your ship. Go ahead and grab that lifeboat first, civilians take
priority in SAR jobs."

Bridge, Archangel, Heliopolis ruins"The Strike should
be on its way back, Captain," Natarle reported. "I still
can't see him in the debris, but I was finally able to contact him.
No sign of those three unknown units."

"Good,"
Murrue acknowledged, smiling in relief. "Keep me posted, and
keep an eye out for them."

"Well,
that's one detail taken care of," Mu commented. "Now we
just have to figure out what to do next." He raised an eyebrow.
"You... think they'll come after us?"

"They
will," Falcon said, exiting the lift. "Rau will not give up
now, not after all the trouble he's gone to so far... not after what
he's learned."

"I agree,"
Murrue said.

"Which
eliminates several options, and provides us with another set,"
Sophia mused. "We could just blast right through them..."

"Obviously
you're not used to this line of work," the one-eyed pilot said
with a snort. "We have two G-weapons and the Zero; Rau has four
G-weapons, with a demonstrated willingness to use them."

"Maybe we
could outrun them," Mu suggested. "The Archangel-class
mobile assault ships are pretty fast, or so I hear. And then there's
those guys in those mobile armors; they tried to stop the missiles,
so maybe they'd be willing to help us?"

Murrue shook her
head. "The enemy's Nazca-class is a swift vessel as well;
there's no guarantee of us losing them, even with a decent head
start."

"Correct,"
Falcon agreed. "In fact, our failure to escape would be
virtually guaranteed. And we cannot count on assistance from outside
parties we know nothing about."

"We could
always surrender..." the Hawk said slowly. "Much as we may
dislike it, it is an option, you know; though of course I'd
rather not..."

"If you
were to choose that course of action," the ex-ZAFT ace said
softly, "I would be obliged to first step out an airlock without
a suit."

Sophia gasped.
"You don't mean that!"

"I
certainly do." His one-eyed gaze swept over all of them.
"Understand something: I will die before I allow my
former comrades to get their hands on me. I know they would do that
to me for my treason... but only after they interrogated me. I know
too much, and I won't allow ZAFT to get hold of any information I may
carry."

She stared at
him, and started to speak, but Mu raised a hand, forestalling her
protest. "I see," he said. "Well, I wasn't seriously
considering it anyway..."

But, he
thought, I wonder why you reacted so strongly? Your sister may say
you have all the warm feelings of a brick, but it's obvious you can
feel fear... and that kind of hate I'm getting from you isn't exactly
cold. Mu distinctly recalled Falcon's cryptic explanation of his
motives for leaving ZAFT. What is it you know, or did? What could
make you, of all people, betray ZAFT?

He knew he
wasn't going to get an answer to that question, at least not yet.

"So what do
we do?" Murrue asked, after a few moments of uncomfortable
silence. "We can't give up, we can't run away, and I don't think
we can just hide here till they go away. We could fight... but they
have four G-weapons, to our two G-weapons and a mobile armor."

"The Strike
has returned, Captain," Natarle replied. "But he's carrying
what appears to be a Heliopolis lifeboat, and wants to bring it
aboard! And if that wasn't enough, he's letting those three
unknowns follow him in! They're claiming that they know you,
Commander DiFalco, but that they aren't ZAFT or Earth Forces.
They're claiming to be an Orb Union Navy Intelligence team."

Falcon's eye
turned to her. "And the problem is?" he said in a
dangerously quiet voice.

She returned his
non-expression with a glare. "In case it slipped your notice,
Commander DiFalco, the Archangel is top-secret military
technology. We can't just let civilians and foreign intelligence
officers come aboard-"

"A little
late," he retorted. "Kira and the others are already here;
and in case it slipped your notice, I'm a former ZAFT pilot.
And while I'm cautious about those three unknowns, the fact that
they tried to shoot down those bunker busters is a point in their
favor. Furthermore, if they're members of Orb's Naval
Intelligence Division, they have a right to be here, particularly if
they were investigating the Earth Forces presence in Heliopolis."But they claim to know me personally…it could be someone using a
cover, but who is it? Shiho's been assigned to an R&D unit,
Sparky's guarding Siegel Clyne, Tom's building Arkbird andAsmodeus, Leanne's with him… Uzumi's people, perhaps?

"But-"

"Put it on
the main screen," Murrue interrupted with a sigh. "I'd like
to talk to them and find out what their intentions are."

"As would I,"
agreed Falcon, as Natarle reluctantly typed the necessary command and
a communications window appeared, revealing an Asiatic face with dark
eyes and a face set in a quiet frown.

"Earth
Forces vessel," he began, "This is Lieutenant Commander
Jack David of Black Card Team 01. We're with Orb NID. I asked your
mobile suit to pick up that lifeboat and a disabled mobile armor, and
I'd like to request permission to bring my team aboard your ship.
Our transport was destroyed in the collapse, and one of my men needs
medical attention."

"You're
quite trusting, for someone who's just seen one of his country's
space colonies collapse," remarked Murrue almost-casually, and
David snorted.

"Hardly,
Captain. But I'm aware that on your bridge is the Grimaldi Falcon,
and if there's one thing certain about Commander Kenneth DiFalco,
it's that he's on the side of those whose cause is just. Besides,
it was the Le Creuset team GINNS armed with bunker busters who
collapsed the colony. Captain, I'm willing to propose a truce. Both
of us need to get to Earth: you'll want to get that ship to where
she'll be useful, while I need to report to my superiors. Until we
reach orbit, I suggest we work together, then go our separate ways.
Our chances of survival increase with our cooperation. We await your
decision. David, clear."

"He looks
really unhappy," said Mu, from his bulkhead spot. "I'd say at
this point, he doesn't really care about any missions or top secret
details, he just wants medical attention for his wounded man. And
even if they're flying mobile armors, that still gives us some help
against the Le Creuset team. Not much, but some."

"Don't
forget, Ensign," said Falcon quietly, "that it was the
Earth Forces who violated Heliopolis' neutrality. We have a moral
responsibility to take them aboard. And if they decide they have
nothing to lose... the bridge doesn't have Phase-Shift Armor."

"But-"

"Give them
permission, Natarle. We don't have time to argue over such petty
matters," Murrue ordered sharply, when it looked like the ensign
would protest further. "Just give them permission, so that
they'll land and we can get underway. We could use all the allies we
can find."

Falcon turned to
the viewport, watching as the Strike brought the lifeboat and the
disabled mobile armor towards the Archangel, the other two
fighters following in the Strike's wake, sensors set to passive and
targeting systems shut down, navigation lights blinking. They were
coming in as non-threateningly as possible, well aware that the path
they were taking had them in range of Igelstellung CIWS turrets and
Gottfried beam cannons.

But something bugged him about the
three mobile armors, fighters that looked like a hybrid of Flanker
and Hornet...

He floated there
for several moments, his mind spinning, processing the information
and trying to puzzle out what it meant, only to be interrupted by Mu.

"About our
plans. You were saying, Falcon?"

Seemingly
unperturbed, Falcon went on calmly, "I was saying that we first
need to choose a destination, before we can make any detailed plans.
Given where we are... I would think Artemis would be the best choice
-and perhaps only- choice."

"Artemis..."
Murrue murmured thoughtfully.

"The
Eurasian base with the light-wave barrier, right?" Mu scratched
his head. "You're probably right about it being the only place
in range, especially since we seem to have a small supply problem.
But we may have another problem: Archangel doesn't have
recognition codes to identify her to any of our allies."

"At this
point, a relatively minor concern, I think." Falcon frowned.
"What concerns me is that intelligence reports I read before my
desertion indicated that an unmitigated jackass named Garcia is in
charge there, and he likely would try something... untoward,
if only to strengthen Eurasia's -and his own- position."

The Hawk
disguised an aborted laugh as a coughing fit, but it was hard. That
description of Garcia -whom Mu had heard things about, none of them
good- would probably have been amusing under any circumstances, but
coming from someone who spoke so tonelessly... I could swear
that guy has a sense of humor...

"I suppose
it'll have to do," Murrue decided. "Though we should
probably be cautious. Now, what was the rest of your plan?"

The one-eyed
pilot took another look at the display. "First of all, Artemis
is just about the last place ZAFT forces would expect us to go.
They'll expect us to head for the Ptolemaeus Base, on the Moon... not
realizing we haven't the supplies to make it that far." He began
to pace -or attempt its zero-gravity equivalent, at any rate- still
thinking. "Bearing that in mind, we launch a decoy -with my
knowledge of Nazca-class detection systems, I can make it all
the more believable- on a logical course to the Moon. Then, whileVesalius hopefully heads off after our decoy, we point
ourselves in the direction of Artemis, run the engines long enough to
gain some decent speed, and then cut them off, using inertia to cross
the remaining distance."

"A silent
run, in other words," Natarle remarked, coming up out of CIC. "I
like it, Captain."

"One thing,
though," Falcon cautioned. "Rau isn't stupid; I highly
doubt this will fool him. But it might buy us some time; and
remember, he doesn't operate in a vacuum. He has to give the opinions
of his subordinates some weight, and he also has to consider
what'll happen if he's wrong."

"Then we'll
go with it," Murrue decided. "Falcon, Sophia, you two get
to work on modifying the decoys; but first, I want you to take a
detour down to the hanger, see how things are going with Kira, that
lifeboat, and the Orb NID team."

"Got it,
Murrue," Sophia acknowledged, casting a glance at her brother;
who, for his part, merely nodded, not revealing the distaste he felt
at the notion of having to work with his sister.

After the pair
had left, Murrue rubbed her temples. "You know, I think having
both of them on the same ship is going to be a real headache."

Mu nodded,
smiling slightly. "I'll grant it'll be interesting." He
raised an eyebrow. "So, you go way back with those two, huh?"

"Yeah."
She settled back into the command chair. "Sophia was a classmate
of mine at the Academy -this was, of course, before the Alliance was
formed- my roommate, and my best friend. I had occasion, during those
years, to meet Falcon. He was just a kid back then, but smart; and
not somebody you wanted to irritate." She smiled in memory. "He
was about nine at the time, I think, but already into the martial
arts; not quite at the brick-breaking level quite yet, but good
enough to make potential attackers lose interest."

"Hm."
The Hawk scratched his head. "Was he much like the Falcon you
met earlier today?"

"Not in the
least," Murrue said emphatically. "A bit quiet, but in the
manner of a budding intellectual, not a cold-blooded warrior; and-"
She broke off, frowning. "That's odd."

Mu tilted his
head. "What is?"

The frown deepened. "I don't remember him having brown hair..."

Archangel,
HangarOnce again, security
team members were waiting, rifles pointed at the trio of slate-gray
mobile armors that had entered the hangar. Kira Yamato's Strike
helped set Snow's motionless Fianna into an empty bay, before
setting down the lifeboat beside it. With the ease of long practice,
Jack and Saito parked their mobile armors on either side, popping the
hatches; Saito remained in his cockpit while Jack jumped out,
"swimming" to Snow's cockpit, working the emergency release and
checking the vitals of the unconscious pilo

"Don't worry, Jack.
If you get any urges to abuse your position, I'll just point my
rifle at you."

"Alright, both of
you! Hands in the air!" ordered the security team leader, rifle
pointed at the two Section Nine pilots, and Saito gave Jack a flat
look from his open cockpit.

"Now would be a good
time for some of your fast talking." Engaging his cyberbrain
communications, Saito mentally added, ::Try and distract them from
shooting. I'll cover you, but this isn't the best place for a
firefight.::

"Good afternoon,
gentlemen," said Jack carefully, removing his helmet and tucking it
under his shoulder. "There's no need for the weaponry you're
pointing at me. I'm not going to shoot you guys, and I really don't
think your Captain will be happy at an international incident caused
by Earth Forces troops shooting an Orb Navy officer. Besides, that
would preclude us all getting to know each other and enjoying a
friendly game of poker."

:: You're the most
mercenary poker player I've ever met, Jack.::

::Saito, you
take the pot more times than me.::

::That's because you
don't have a poker face. Hmm. There's Flay Allster, getting off
the lifeboat. Looks like history is proceeding more or less as I
remember. Have you figured out what we're going to do after this?::

::We really need a
council of war, get together and plan what we're gonna do,,::replied Jack. ::With great power comes great responsibility,
or so some 20th century philosopher
postulated. Look sharp, here comes The Major.:: He watched
carefully as Falcon and his sister approached, Jack's body language
relaxed and confident, a contrast to Falcon's cold inscrutability
and the visibly radiating Sophia..

"Commander DiFalco,
the Grimaldi Falcon, former commanding officer Gray Demons," said
Jack, saluting again, the gesture sharper and crisper than before.
"It's good to see you again, Sir. It's been a while."

From inside the cockpit
of his Fianna, Saito likewise safed his Seburo C-26A PDW, and his
face relaxed slightly as the medical team arrived to the hangar. He
looked at Jack, who met his gaze and nodded; the one-eyed sniper
slung the PDW over his back and kicked off from the cockpit, coming
to a stop beside Jack and saluting. "Lieutenant Saito, serial
number Sierra-four-three-zero-nine-two-five-seven-zero-six-nine.
Current assignment: Black Card Team 01."

"I see," began
Sophia (she didn't, but there was no way she was going to admit
that). "And your wounded pilot is…?"

"Lieutenant Commander
Marcus Snow, my XO. He seems to be concussed, but I'd like the
doctor to take a look at him, just to be sure." He looked at both
DiFalcos, and added, "I guess we get changed and then go to see the
Captain?"

"Of course," said
Falcon, gesturing for the Section Nine pilots to go before him, as
they retrieved their duffle bags and floated towards the ready room.
As Jack and Snow floated before him, he turned around to look at the
trio of mobile armors parked beside the lifeboat: a new type of
mobile armor, nothing like the Mobius or the Mobius Zero. These
mobile armors resembled conventional atmospheric fighters, their
design hinting of a heritage stretching back to the twentieth century
AD, with angled canard foreplanes set behind the cockpit, vertical
stabilizers canted outwards, oversized engine pods, micromissile pods
carried on underwing hardpoints, and a gunpod under the nose. Yet it
was only as Falcon left the hangar that he realized what had been
bugging him about the three mobile armors.

They were painted slate
gray.

Gray Demons slate gray.

Bridge, Archangel"Greetings, Captain
Ramius, Commander la Flaga, Commander Badgiruel. I'm Lieutenant
Commander Jack David, and this is my wingman Lieutenant Saito. Sorry
about the coveralls, but these are what we use as Class Cs when on an
investigation mission," said Jack cheerfully, smiling at theArchangel's officers, having changed from his flightsuit
into slate gray coveralls with a black flight jacket (which had been
hastily sanitized of all Section Nine insignia). He couldn't help
it. Sure, they weren't exactly the same people he'd served
with, befriended, and played poker with, but seeing the familiar
faces lifted his spirits.

Then he realized what
he'd just said, and blinked. Oops.

"I'm just a mere
Lieutenant, sir, and I think the Ensign's off-kilter from her
abrupt promotion," grinned the Hawk easily, and Jack grinned back,
covering his stumble.

"Even in Orb, we've
heard of the Hawk of Endymion. There's a betting pool on when the
Earth Forces brass will get their asses in gear and promote you:
sooner or later, La Flaga, you'll be a Lieutenant Commander. And
the lowest rank a member of the Badgiruel family has ever achieved
was Lieutenant Commander, so there should be no reason why the Ensign
can't equal that achievement. And please, call me Jack. No need to
stand on ceremony among pilots." He leaned forward
conspiratorially, and added, "How about a wager between pilots?
I'll bet you a hundred bucks that you'll be a Lieutenant
Commander by Valentine's Day…"

Mu laughed and extended
his hand, and they both shook on it, and Murrue sighed, shaking her
head amusedly. Natarle wasn't so sanguine, but whatever she might
have said was cut off by Saito's quiet voice.

"Let's put our
cards on the table and deal," he said, casting a glance at Jack and
Mu, both of whom straightened up and leaned against their bulkheads;
Falcon was sitting on the ceiling, cross-legged. "Right now, we
should be discussing what our plans are."

"We were planning on
heading to Artemis," said Murrue. "Falcon and Lieutenant DiFalco
will be modifying one of our decoys and sending it on a course to the
Moon; hopefully, Vesalius will chase after it, allowing us to
make a silent run to Artemis."

"I see," nodded
Jack. "That makes sense. I take it that you're hoping to resupply
at Artemis, since you don't have enough supplies to reach the
moon."

"That sounds like one
of Falcon's sayings," commented Mu, and the eyepatch-wearing
sniper chuckled lightly.

"Not exactly," he
replied. "There's precedent for this sort of thing, isn't
there?"

"Actually…"
Murrue and Sophia looked at each other, a shared glance that spoke
volumes. "It's been done before, but not many times."

"Oooohkaaaay, I think
our success predictions just took a hit," winced Jack. "Still,
long shots are better than nothing – and you have Strike, Raptor
and the Zero, right? That should be able to hold off Gamow's
MS team, worse comes to worse, if Le Creuset deploys them to try and
head you off while he goes off chasing your decoy." He shared a
meaningful glance with Saito, and sighed. "Our Fianna mobile armors
aren't fully combat ready; the targeting computers are suffering
data corruption and need a software reinstall and rewrite, followed
by manually rezeroing our weapons, and I doubt we could squash all
the bugs before Le Creuset shows up. On the other hand, a Fianna does
happen to be more survivable than a Moebius… and all I'd really
need to do is just head out there, make a nuisance of myself, draw
enemy attention and then stay alive long enough for Raptor and Strike
to settle the bandits, and maybe fire back a few shots to get their
attention. Worse-case scenario, though, is that Le Creuset figures out
what we're doing and catches us in a pincer; we'll really be in
trouble then. But I guess before we can worry about that, we need to
get settled…"

"Well, then, let's
see about integrating your team into our order of battle," said
Murrue, and the first joint Earth Forces-Orb (and one former ZAFT
ace) mobile weapon wing was born.

Archangel, Hallway, 30 minutes laterAs he stepped out from
the bridge, his pocket computer beeped, and Falcon made a quick scan
of the hallway, before ducking into a corner to check the message
he'd received. What he read surprised him.

Snow Team reporting
for duty to True ZAFT Commander Kenneth DiFalco. Request permission
to make sitrep ASAP. Urgent intel affecting Shiva Option outcome and
Lion of Orb discovered. Must speak to you face to face. Also, doesn't
Leanne use witchcraft to make e-rats taste so good, and how's your
heart – got enough batteries? And Shiho still has her crush on
Yzak, doesn't she?- Jack David

Falcon narrowed his eyes at the email, his mind sorting probabilities
and plans. It had been proven again and again that mobile armors were
inferior weapons compared to mobile suits, which was why Rear Admiral
Lewis Halberton had started the G-Weapon Project, aimed at creating
mobile suits to counter ZAFT's trump card. But Jack had been
confident that the Fianna mobile armors could hold off G-units, which
meant that there was more than met the eye to the slate gray
fighters, which meant that they could be useful assets if he could
incorporate them into his battle plans.

He recognized the references in the last two sentences. Among the
Gray Demons, it was a common joke that Leanne Eldridge was the only
woman who could make emergency rations taste good, and that the only
way she could do so was through witchcraft, a joke started by Sparky
Cooper. His eyes narrowed at the second statement: few outside ZAFT
knew that he had a replacement battery-supplemented heart – not
even Uzumi Nara Athha knew of his heart. But what was that about
Shiho having a crush on Yzak Joule?

At any rate, Black Card Team 01 was well informed about his
activities, for a unit supposedly investigating military activity in
Heliopolis. His mind sorted through the possibilities and
probabilities, but Falcon knew that to get to the bottom of this, he
would have to talk to them.

Archangel,
SickbaySaito knew when Jack
had received the reply. The intelligence officer/pilot had a habit of
cocking his head to the side when reading emails with his cyberbrain,
eyes losing focus as they stared into the distance, before they
refocused and he turned to Saito, who was already getting up. ::Where
do we meet the Major?:: he cybercommed, wary of possible
surveillance.

::Your habit
predicting people's thoughts with a single glance is getting
annoying:: replied Jack, as he turned to gaze at the unconscious
Snow, strapped down to a bed in sickbay, quickly jotting something on
a piece of paper. ::We're to meet him in his quarters. I'll
leave a note for Snow in case he wakes up, and then we can go.::

::And just how are
you going to convince him you're on the level?::

::Simple. I tell the
truth. And don't say anything about how the truth is incompatible
with me, just because of my gift of suckering people into bets that
they end up losing.::

The two pilots 'swam"
through the Archangel's corridors, arriving outside Falcon's
quarters, and stood still momentarily, looking at the hatch in silent
contemplation, a silence broken only by Jack's wry observation:
"Well, we sure aren't in Orb anymore…"

Saito chuckled and
extended his hand to press the hatch intercom button; before his
finger made contact, the hatch slid open, and Falcon beckoned them to
enter. The hatch slid shut behind them, and both Section Nine
operatives came to attention. "Snow Team pilots David and Saito,
reporting to the Major," said Jack formally. "Uh, I mean,
Commander DiFalco."

::That was smooth.::

Jack chose to ignore
Saito's sarcasm.

Falcon watched them for
a while, his gaze piercing. "So you aren't really with Orb NID."

"Nope," said Jack.
"Though Saito and I are Navy Reserve officers, that's merely part
of our cover. We're with the non-affiliated counterterrorist unit
known as Section Nine, established after the First Bloody Valentine
War to fulfill much of the same role True ZAFT will fulfill during
the Shiva Option." He met Falcon's gaze head on, adding, "Section
Nine will be commanded by an ace pilot from True ZAFT's ranks, a
man hand-picked by Commander DiFalco to lead the organization
succeeding True ZAFT; operating under the codename of 'The Major',
he will be in the forefront of Section Nine operations during the
Second Bloody Valentine War and in the dismantling of LOGOS, the body
that's pulling the strings behind Blue Cosmos. The Major's skill
in battle will be equaled only by the Grimaldi Falcon… because you,
Sir, will be the Major. But that's next year.

"I know of GENESIS,
Sir. I know of Shiva Option Three, of the roles that Lance Cooper,
Tom Delaney and Leanne Eldrige are playing in the PLANTs,
constructing Arkbird and Asmodeus. I know the details
of almost every battle the Archangel will be forced to fight
from now until Second Jachin, where GENESIS will be destroyed."

"As to how I know all
this, it's a simple, and admittedly unbelievable answer. We're
from nine years in the future."

In response, Jack
turned around and folded down the collar of his jacket, revealing the
cyberbrain input/output socket embedded at the back of his neck. He
took out his pocket computer and a small cable, and plugged the
computer into the socket, turning to face Falcon, his eyes unfocused
as he transferred data from his cyberbrain into the computer. His
computer chirped as the data finished transferring, and he unplugged
it, handing it to Falcon. "They say a picture is worth a thousand
words; if so, actual battlefield data recordings must be worth a few
hundred thousand words then."

Falcon took the pocket
computer, a model he recognized as an evolution to his own computer,
and began sifting through the data, his expression unreadable to Jack
and Saito. He was thoughtful as he absorbed the images and video
recordings of the ZGMF-X00 Preybird in action, a mobile suit he
intended to use to complete the Shiva Option.

A mobile suit that
existed only as a concept within his mind.

The articles on the
Bloody Valentine War were in-depth and well-researched, particularly
the excerpts that Jack had picked out from Jess Rable's book on
True ZAFT, far too in-depth to have been fabrications, including True
ZAFT's Order of Battle (and here he raised a mental eyebrow, seeing
Andrew Waltfeld listed as one of True ZAFT's ship captains). The
presence of the Odin and Rear Admiral Lewis Halberton in True
ZAFT's ORBAT gave him a momentary lightness in his heart; he'd
known Lewis Halberton when the older man was still a mobile armor
pilot, prior to the attempted blockade which had seen both of them on
opposite sides.

That reminds me.
Lewis owes me ten bucks and a new machine gun, he thought,
keeping his face still. Must not break cover.

The next file he looked
through gave him pause. It was a picture of a group of pilots,
wearing slate gray flightsuits and black flight jackets, three of
whom were wearing red-hilted katanas with their flightsuits, save for
the figure in the center of the photo, wearing a gray coat over his
flightsuit. His eyes swept through the sea of faces, some familiar,
some not, eyebrows rising fractionally seeing Tom Delaney and Leanne
Eldridge standing beside an older Ken DiFalco amongst the pilots, and
zeroed in on three pilots standing together: Jack David, Marcus Snow,
and Saito. So they really were my subordinates, he thought,
reading the chilling photo comment: "March 10th
CE 73. Section Nine pilots & Major,
prior to Junius Seven colony drop."

If that wasn't short
sentence wasn't bad enough, the last video file –appearing as if
from a helmet camera- was of a giant gamma ray beam firing from a
mobile asteroid fortress, one that he didn't recognize… but a
fortress which screamed ZAFT! to his instincts. He looked up
from the computer, his eyes hard. "ZAFT builds another
GENESIS?" he demanded harshly. And someone dared to drop Junius
Seven on the Earth?!

"Yep," nodded Saito
grimly. "We were there. And we put a stop to it. And now we'll do
the same again."

"Moment of truth,
Commander," said Jack, determination present in his tone. "We
didn't want to come back into the past. We were flung back because
of a freak accident. We're adrift in time, with no way to get back
to our timeline. And, well, we need directions. We aren't exactly
setup for independent operations. We may not be your Demons, but we
serve the same ideals. Your cause is our cause." He braced to
attention, saluting in the ZAFT style.

"Commander DiFalco.
On my authority as Snow Team XO, I hereby request permission for our
team to join your unit."

Ken slowly lowered the
computer, letting it float in zero-g, and slowly, formally, returned
Jack and Saito's salutes. "We won't be operating with that name
yet, but welcome to True ZAFT, soldiers. We'll start with a full
sitrep of your unit."

"Yes Sir,"
responded Jack, fighting the urge to grin and dance a jig. "We have
three TRVF-X51A Fianna transformable mobile suits parked in the
hangar, in fighter mode. Each Fianna is powered by a nuclear reactor
and an N-jammer canceler –they did come from the future,
afterall- and my unit and Snow's carry four 18-cell Firestorm micromissile
launchers, 2 beam sabers and an underchin beam gunpod. Saito's unit
has two Firestorm launchers, and replaces the gunpod with a Caladbolg
beam smartrifle, essentially an uber sniper rifle. Our units mount Variable Phase-Shift armor; VPS is a
postwar improvement over standard PSA, allowing greater flexibility
and tactical options."

"You can reprogram
VPS on the fly," said Saito. "I have a palette of camouflage
options stored in my Fianna's computer; just hit a few buttons and
I have an appropriate camo scheme for any mission."

"And if it's
powered by a nuclear reactor, you could adjust it to be stronger than
standard PSA," mused Falcon.

"Essentially, yeah,"
nodded Jack. "We're still not fully combat capable though. The
freak accident that threw us back in time corrupted our targeting
systems and wiped our driver data; we need to work on our units to
fix the problems, and at this point, the only way we could hit
anything would be to stay in mobile armor mode. Which will be a
problem near Artemis."

"Explain."

"Well, as you know,
Sir, Le Creuset is smart, cunning, and an utterly devious bastard,"
began Jack, assuming a lecturing position. "He'll make it look as
if Vesalius is chasing Archangel's decoy, while he sendsGamow to cut us off. He'll then turn around and catch us in
a pincer. He'll have Gamow cut off Archangel's line
of retreat, while flanking us from our nine o'clock. This is what happened before, so it'll most likely happen again. Still… it
should be possible to beat them off. Archangel isn't lacking
in weaponry, Kira Yamato will be the best pilot of the War, and we've
got the Hawk of Endymion and the Grimaldi Falcon covering us. And two
Fianna mobile armors… well, when we can fix our targeting systems."

Falcon nodded
thoughtfully, his mind racing over the possibilities, as Jack
retrieved his computer, plugged it into his neck socket, and began
sorting for the Fianna's tech specs. "An implanted bio-computer?"
asked Falcon.

"Pretty much,"
replied Saito. "Our cyberbrains have short-range commo capability,
wireless net connection, improved memory storage and recall.
Cyberbrains were a ZAFT innovation; they haven't really taken off
among the public, at least not yet; most people using them are
military. A good number of Section Nine's personnel have them; they
get really handy." His eye widened slightly and he looked at Jack.
The other pilot was oblivious to him, so Saito sighed, reached into
his jacket, and drew his sidearm.

Section Nine's standard issue sidearm was the Seburo M-11, essentially a Seburo M-10 pistol rechambered for 11.43mm, the caliber
that had been known ages ago as ".45ACP", the most successful
pistol caliber in history. True, it only held 12 rounds in the
magazine, compared to the twenty in a 5.45mm M-10, but each round was
enough to put a man down. Each pistol, already reliable, durable and
accurate, had been stripped down and rebuilt, painstakingly and
meticulously, by the hands of Corporal Julio Poertena, Section Nine's
eccentric Filipino armorer from the Equatorial Union. Each pistol was
issued to its user and remained with the user for life (or as close
as possible, given the inherent risk in Section Nine activity, plus
the fact that the Earth Forces hated them). Saito's pistol sported
a modification he'd asked for: an integral laser sight mounted
under the barrel. He raised the pistol and turned on the laser sight,
and a red dot appeared on Jack's neck.

One of Jack's
problems, Snow had found, was that he could occasionally lose his
situational awareness and get too caught up in his circumstances, too
busy thinking to move or act (particularly when he was planning to
sucker someone into a bet). One of the few things that could shake
him was the feeling of a laser sight over his neck. None of them
could explain his sensitivity to laser sights, but Snow had
immediately designated Saito as the laser spotter to shock Jack back
to reality.

Which is exactly what
happened, as Jack started, and said, very carefully, "Saito, please
turn it off."

"Got your attention," he smirked, before
turning serious and tapping behind his neck. "Snow's got a
cyberbrain, and the doc was looking him over."

"Go," ordered
Falcon, and Jack nearly broke the sound barrier on his way to
sickbay. "He just realized that Snow has a cyberbrain and that Doc
Hibson would have seen the sockets?"

"And only realized it
when I waved my laser sight over him," agreed Saito, holstering his
pistol. "I was a bit worried you were going cut my hand off again
though," he added wryly.

"Your hammer was
decocked and the magazine well was empty. I don't like guns,
but I know how to use them."

"Like the PSG-1 in
your rucksack," agreed Saito, recalling his up close and personal
experience of the antique sniper rifle. "In addition to what Jack
told you, there's something else we need to decide about."

"The
ZAFT forces are still out there," Sai pointed out. "I doubt
they'll just let us go without a fight; not after all they've already
done."

"They're
intent on gettin' their hands on this ship, and those mobile suits,"
Tolle said pensively. "They wanted to do that even before Falcon
turned up; and now that he's
here, I bet they're really mad."

Flay's
eyes widened. "What? You mean we're in even greater danger than
we would be on that lifeboat? Please tell me it's not true!"

"Would
you rather be stuck on that damaged lifeboat?" Mir asked
pointedly. "Besides, we've got a fighting chance. We all saw
what the Strike can do, and Falcon's a ZAFT ace..."

The
red-head turned to her. "But can we trust him?"

"We've
all been asking ourselves that," Tolle informed her. "But
you know... he shot down two GINNs out there today. He may not be
happy with the Earth Forces, but you can bet he's not going back to
ZAFT, either. He can't."

"And,"
his girlfriend added, "he's a good person. All along, I've felt
he can be trusted; and everything he's done today has supported
that."

"Hmm..."

"Would
Kira Yamato be here, by any chance?"

The
heretofore silent Kira looked up as Mu spoke. "Lieutenant?"

"Mr.
Murdoch's got a little problem," the pilot informed him. "We
don't have enough people to maintain both mobile suits, the Fiannas
and the Zero... so you'll have to take care of your machine."

Kira
blanched. "My
machine? Wait a minute! Since when
is the Strike my
machine?"

Mu
smiled slightly. "Let's just say that's how things worked out.
After all, we only have five pilots; and I thought you said you'd
protect this ship?"

"That
was for the battle in Heliopolis!" the Coordinator protested. "I
never said anything about-"

"Maybe
not, but the situation hasn't really changed, has it?" The Hawk
sighed. "Kira, you have the power to make a difference, don't
you? So why not put it to good use?" He paused, tilting his
head. "And think about this: Falcon's arguments make as much
sense now as they did a few hours ago."

With
that, Mu left; and Kira was left with his own thoughts. "But..."

Shaking
his head, he suddenly ran off. "Kira, wait!" Mir called
after him.

Flay
glanced around. "Hey, wait a second! So, Kira
was the one piloting that mobile suit? But... why? Is he like
Falcon...?"

"No,"
Mir said emphatically. "He is
a Coordinator," she admitted, "but he was never with ZAFT
to begin with. He's one of us, a cherished friend."

"Oh..."

Archangel,HangerOne
of Saito's most effective skills was his ability to read people's
intentions by looking at their faces. For as far a he could remember,
he'd always had this ability, which he had carefully and steadily
honed as he went through life. It was a skill that he'd relied on
in his career as a sniper, first for the Earth Forces, then as a
freelance mercenary, and finally as an operative of Section Nine. (It
was also very
useful in poker games, allowing him to see who was bluffing.) It
wasn't an infallible skill –absently, he rubbed his eyepatch,
where he once possessed a left eye, briefly remembering the events
that had brought about his loss- and he'd been fooled before. But
he didn't need this skill to read the troubled expression on the
face of the brown-haired youth who entered the hangar. He stopped his
work on Snow's Fianna, considering whether to speak to the teen,
and then the decision was made for him, as he saw who entered the
hangar after Kira.

Kira
Yamato stood on the walkway before the Strike, Birdie on his
shoulder, his thoughts in turmoil. I
know how to pilot it... but that doesn't mean I can use it in
battle... Why me?
he demanded of the world in general.

"Tough
choice, isn't it?"

He
spun around, to find Falcon floating in the air behind him with the
ease of one long at home in space. "Falcon?"

The
one-eyed pilot nodded at the Strike. "You know how to use it,
but you doubt your combat skills... and you don't know if you want to
use them if you have them. That's how it is, right?"

"Yeah,"
Kira admitted. "I know I flew it before, but... I'm not a
soldier, and I don't want
to be one. I hate war, Falcon."

"So
does any sane soldier," Falcon pointed out. "Me included."

The
younger man's eyes narrowed. "So why'd you join ZAFT?"

The
ace thought back. "It was the summer of 68," he recalled.
"Not long after the Mandelbrot Incident, and ZAFT was first
reorganized into a kind of militia."

Kira
was familiar with the incident, of course: when space forces from the
sponsor nations attacked a convoy carrying, among other things, food
supplies for the PLANTs; a convoy including the Mandelbrot
herself, the ship after which the incident was named.

"I
was young, idealistic, and maybe just a little stupid," Falcon
went on. "Sophia had left years before to join the Atlantic
Federation military -though I didn't know that till today- so my only
remaining loyalty was to the PLANTs. So I signed up, wound up as a
mobile suit pilot, and saw combat during the attempted blockade in
69." His voice hardened. "And I was there, at Junius Seven,
and... Endymion."

"So
you fought for your homeland," Kira said, nodding. "But
what does that have to do with me, and why I
should be fighting?"

"It
has everything
to do with it, Kira." Falcon looked him in the eye. "You
said I 'fought' for my homeland. Truth is, I still am. What I'm
telling you is this: to protect the PLANTs I had to do something I
didn't want to do. To protect that which you
wish to protect, you may have to do something you don't want to."

If
he didn't know better, he'd have sworn Falcon was suppressing a
chuckle. "How did you think I knew who you were, when I first
came to Heliopolis? Kira, when I was on medical leave following
Endymion -never mind what
the injuries were- I taught a couple of classes at the ZAFT academy.
While there, I met Athrun, and he mentioned you." The blue gaze
sharpened. "And that,
Kira, brings me to the other reason you're needed to fight: you don't
want to fight the Aegis' pilot... and I don't want to fight another
of Rau's men."

Kira
blinked. "Huh? Why not?"

Falcon
rubbed his eyepatch. "The day before I deserted, a fellow by the
name of Dearka Elsman was transferred to the Le Creuset team."
He met Kira's eyes. "I have a strong suspicion he flies one of
the stolen G-weapons... and Dearka happens to be my best friend."

The
younger Coordinator nodded in sudden comprehension. No
wonder he's so cold,
he thought. I
may have to fight Athrun, but Falcon has to fight his entire
military... and his
best friend. I can't imagine what that must be like...

Kira
looked up. "So you're saying we need each other," he said.
"I may have to fight your friend, and you... might have to fight
mine..."

Falcon
read the look in Kira's eyes. "I know, Kira. You don't want
Athrun hurt, even if you don't have to do it yourself. Well, you can
relax; I have no intention of shooting to kill if I can possibly
avoid it. Except, of course, with Rau, and possibly Yzak Joule, if
he's still with the team."

"What
if you have to kill Dearka?" The ace shrugged. "I don't
think that'll happen in this battle, if it occurs. We'll be up
against four
G-weapons, so I daresay we'll have our hands full just trying to hold
them off."

Falcon
simply waited patiently. As a longtime student of the martial arts,
patience was something he had in abundance... and he had his own
thinking to do.

Dearka...
you'll be out there, won't you? Will you be the first to try to
execute me, amigo? I expect you to do your duty, as I would in your
place... but I hope you'll at least hear me out first. We have much
to discuss, you and I; and with my usual channels cut, I need
information about the situation in the PLANTs. I need to know how
much I need do with the Earth Forces... and I need to know if it
has been completed. Jack's information tells me that it isn't
ready yet, but even he admits that his intel needs verification.

At
last, Kira turned to face his fellow pilot again. "Okay,"
he said wearily. "I'll do it. We're the only ones who can
protect this ship... and if you're willing to fight your own
comrades, can I really do less?"

Falcon
clapped him on the shoulder. "Kira, you have every right to sit
this out; but it sounds like you're one of those guys who couldn't
look themselves in the mirror if they had a chance to make a
difference, and didn't." His cool voice took on a subtle,
peculiar edge. "One piece of advice: don't think of this as
fighting your own people. No matter what anyone else may say, those
in the PLANTs are not 'your' people simply because they're
Coordinators; what your genes look like is irrelevant. 'Your people'
are those like Tolle, Mir, and the others: your friends.
Remember that."

"I'll
try," Kira promised. He tilted his head. "By the way,
Falcon... why did
you desert?"

The
single eye closed. "Let's just say that there are those in the
PLANTs who desire more than simple independence... and I played a
critical role in one of the projects meant to make their goals
happen." His hand unconsciously stroked the hilt of his
wakizashi. "With my absence, the plan will be having
difficulties, but it is not enough; and so I strive for a balance, a
stalemate. A way to bring the war to an end in a manner that grants
independence to the PLANTs, but without the victory being so
overwhelming that... Well, it doesn't really matter now." Falcon
shook himself. "Well, I'd better get to the Bridge; I have the
distinct feeling things are about to go wrong."

Archangel,Bridge"I
don't like this..." Mu murmured. "It's too easy."

They'd
been running silent for over two hours now, on course to Artemis, but
something didn't feel right to the Hawk of Endymion. Something was
about to happen... and he had the distinct feeling that it wouldn't
be good. Their already limited combat strength had been depleted
further by Saito launching in Snow's Fianna on a recon run; all the
one-eyed pilot/intelligence operative would say was that it was
intelligence business. That hadn't soothed Mu's nerves one bit;
he had always been wary of intelligence types. (And mindful of Falcon's Lesson Eleven: "'Military Intelligence' is a contradiction in terms.")

"It
is that," Falcon agreed, floating in his nook on the Bridge,
where he'd parked himself. "Of course, it could simply be
because of the sheer ludicrousness of Artemis."

Natarle
glanced up in CIC. "What do you mean, Commander?"

"The
Umbrella Shield," he replied. "The light-wave barrier.
Certainly it's nice to have an impenetrable defense... but recall Sun
Tzu's words: 'To unfailingly take what you attack, attack where there
is no defense. For unfailingly secure defense, defend where there is
no attack.'"

Murrue
nodded. "In other words, Artemis is defending where there is no
attack. After all, who cares about a military satellite at L3, of all
places?"

"Exactly."
Falcon shook his head. "We considered attacking Artemis, just
after Endymion, but in the end we decided against it. Why bother?"

"Heat
source detected!" Pal interrupted. "From nine o'clock!"

The
pilot was at his side in an instant, examining the readings."Nazca-class,"
he reported. "That'll be Vesalius,
for sure."

Murrue
closed her eyes. "They saw through our deception; but where's
their Laurasia?"

"They
probably split up, to cover us and the decoy," Mu mused. "They
couldn't take the risk of letting us slip past."

Falcon
frowned. "That sounds logical... but it's not right, I can feel
it. Which means... not good." He straightened. "'So if you
know the place and time of battle, you can join the fight from a
thousand miles away.'"

The
Hawk hissed. "It's a trap!" Just
as Jack worried – speak of the devil, here he is,
he thought, as the Orb pilot arrived on the bridge, visibly agitated
and looking as if he'd swum a mile.

"Got
here as fast as I could swim," he gasped. "It's Le Creuset ,
isn't it? He's caught us in a pincer."

"Yes."
His future commander punched buttons on Pal's console, taking in the
data that scrolled across the screen. "Got it. TheLaurasia-class
-looks to be the Gamow-
is directly astern of us." His face tightened imperceptibly. "I
knew Rau wouldn't be fooled, but I thought we'd have a little more
time. Well, no help for it." He looked over at Mu. "Time to
start planning how we're going to get out of this one alive, Mu."

A
relieved sigh. "Good. That takes care of one problem. Saito
hasn't come back yet, has he?"

"Nope,"
replied Jack, floating over the tactical displays. "He can make
it to Artemis on his own if he has to... but yeah, he isn't back
yet. We'll have to do without him and Snow."

"Right."
Mu wasn't too happy about that; even when they'd outnumbered the
opposition, the Earth Forces had consistently lost engagements with
ZAFT's mobile suits; when the enemy outnumbered them,
things weren't going to go well for the Archangel
at all – especially when Le Creuset had four G-weapons toArchangel's
two. The Hawk glanced at Natarle. "Bring me a map of this area,
will you? And Falcon: I need to know exactly
what a Nazca's
performance is."

"Right."
Out came the ubiquitous pocket computer,s and Falcon started tapping
keys.

Sophia
looked at it curiously. "Just how much data is in
that thing, Falcon?"

"Plenty."

After
several minutes of discussion, the rudiments of a plan had been
hammered out.

Archangel,CafeteriaThe
other four students from Heliopolis were sitting at a table when the
pace began to pick up again. "Man..." Tolle sighed. "To
think I thought this was going to be a normal day when I got up this
morning. I never dreamed
anything like this
would happen."

"I
know," Mir agreed. "It's... it's like this is all a dream."

"Yeah."
Sai idly cleaned his glasses. "I keep expecting to wake up and
find this was all a dream. But I won't, will I?"

"Doesn't
look like it," Kuzzey said gloomily. "Earth Forces mobile
suits, ZAFT mobile suits, a new warship, a ZAFT deserter... I just
can't keep up with all that's happening."

"And
now it looks like the ship's about to be in a battle again," Mir
whispered. "What's going to happen to us now?"

"All
hands to Level One Battlestations! All hands to Level One
Battlestations!"
The voice on the intercom paused.
"Kira Yamato to the Bridge! Kira Yamato to the Bridge!"

"Yep,
looks like another battle," Tolle said sardonically. "But...
you think Kira's really going out there?"

Mir
looked at him reprovingly. "Kuzzey, Falcon isn't some kind of
super-soldier; he may be a Coordinator, but he's still human.
Besides, have you forgotten that he's going to have to fight his own
comrades out there? It can't be easy for him."

"Right,"
Tolle agreed. He looked at his classmates. "You know... maybe we
should do our
part. We were at a technical college; we know how things work. Maybe
it's time we gave them some support, you know?"

There
was no argument.

Archangel,
SickbayDoc Hibson sat in his
chair and pondered his dilemma, looking at the x-rays he'd taken of
Snow's skull, shaking his head and sighing.

Doc Hibson was normally
a rather easygoing good-natured person, but he could occasionally get
stressed out, particularly around snow. The fact that his patient's
name was Snow and he hated the white fluffy substance was bad
enough, but then to find computer sockets in the man's neck and an
implanted computer in the man's brain?

He had been ready to go
to the Captain and tell her of this detail when Jack had barged into
sickbay, frantic, and had begun his impassioned debate that could be
summed up in four words: "Don't tell the Captain."

Hibson had immediately
begun his own counterattack: he was a doctor, afterall, and doctors
were well-versed in talking people into doing what the doctor said.
(Nevermind that he hadn't succeeded in talking his sister out of
joining the Marines). Jack had finally gotten him to keep quiet with
one desperate statement: "Please, Doc. If you tell the Captain,
Falcon is going to cut you to pieces, and I don't really want that to
happen."

The doctor wasn't
happy about having to throw in the towel, but he also knew of Kenneth
DiFalco's reputation: the Grimaldi Falcon was not known for
moderation where his mission was concerned – something aptly seen
in his Lessons of War, as quoted by Jack:

Lesson Seventeen:
"If the problem seems insoluble, sometimes all you need is a bigger
hammer."

Faced with ample proof
that his persistence would be rewarded with the separation of his
body into smaller pieces, Hibson had given up on telling the Captain
about Snow's cyberbrain (and that the supposed Black Card Team 01
were from the future), and was in the midst of deleting his reports
(under Jack's agitated eye) when the announcement calling all hands
to Level One Battlestations came in and Jack rushed to the bridge,
leaving him with the last piece of evidence to destroy: Snow's
x-rays.

"They don't pay me
enough for this," he repeated, staring at the x-rays for a long
moment, before putting them into his safe and securing all breakables
and loose objects. Once done, he went and prepared sickbay, setting
out his tools and drugs, bandages and blood packs, prepping medical
equipment and making the beds. His task done, he sat down at his
desk, and waited, hoping against hope that his services would not be
needed...but ready nontheless.

Archangel was
heading back into combat, and no matter his qualms, when duty called him,
Ranjit Hibson would not be found wanting.

To Be
continued…Author's Notes: And thus begins my most ambitious project ever: an epic retelling of Solid Shark's Birds of a Feather. I'd like to thank Solid for allowing me this chance to place a new spin on his work, and to arekuruu-inabikari-no-She who was my beta reader. This one's for you guys!

A few things that I'd like to note before I get lynched: Yes, the Snow Team/Black Card Team 01 have cyberbrains. Yes, those are from Ghost in the Shell. They're side charecters in Cry of the Falcon, Solid's sequel to BoaF. As Millenia Crescent already has a cyberbrain (check chapter 7 of CotF), and they're from 6 eyars after CotF, I figured that GitS-style cyberbrains should be starting to show up and become more common (though a cyberbrain computing revolution hasn't kicked off yet).

More of Saito's backstory is available in another fic of mine, Beware the Left Eye, which denotes his first meeting with Falcon.

And with that, I leaveyou for now. Fair winds and following seas, and I hope that you'll follow me as we go about this journey! - Wild Goose

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.